Served Time
by Kali Cephirot
Summary: Clow and Christine share some tea and memories for the last time. COMPLETE


**Served Time.**

When she walked inside the coffee shop, Christine wasn't very surprised to find Clow Reed sitting over her favorite table, a book open and his eyes focused on the text, despite the fact that she was quite certain he wasn't reading. It was the first time in her current incarnation she had seen him.

She walked towards the table instead, smoothing her uniform skirt before sitting down. He was trying to play it charming, her favorite tea and pastries were already waiting for her, just a gentle reminder that neither of them believed in coincidences.

"Clow Reed," she said instead, and it made her both happy and sad to be able to talk the Demon Language with someone other than her memories of Shinou. Only then he put the book down, his smile as kind and pleasant as it had been for the last three millenium. "It's been so long. I thought you had already forgotten our friendship."

"As if I could, my dear Christine," Clow reached for her hand and brushed his lips against her fingers, still so very fluent on the Demon Languges that it was almost frustrating. If he didn't know her - and all her previous lives - so well, she would have faked a blush. As it was, she just shook her head, amused. "I've just been so terribly busy, these past years."

"Is that so?" She asked, reaching for the cream. "How is Miss Ichihara?"

"You, my dear, continue being ruthless," Clow said with a warm laugh, his voice barely accented anymore. It was kind of expected, Christine supposed, that he'd even lose that, with so many years he had lived. She had never been sure how old he had been when they met, back when she still was the Daikenja, but through the many lives she remembered, he had always looked the same.

She supposed that even rocks lost some of themselves too the unclemencies of time. 

"Dear Yuuko is... well, currently she's terribly upset with me,"

Christine shook her head. "Now, Clow, what did you do to her? Did you put a spell over her sake again?"

"Lovely, I said 'upset', not 'murderous'." Clow debated with a shudder that made her laugh again. "No, no. I'm just going to die."

Christine laughed, thinking of it a joke, before she looked upon Clow's face and realized he was serious. She frowned a little, concerned. She didn't know how old Clow was (she was almost certain that no one actually knew that) but he had been present for so long, had helped her and her previous encarnations so much... to this day, Clow had been glad to inform her about Shin Makoku and the twenty four rulers that had come after Daikenja.

"Now, my dear Christine, don't be upset," Clow informed her, reaching for her hand again and patting the back softly. "I'm not ill, and my death won't be something unexpected. In fact, I must thank you for the clever hints you gave me about how Mazoku transfer their souls."

Despite herself and the sudden loneliness she felt, she smiled a little. 

"So you finally figured it out?"

"It only took me two hundred years," Clow waved his hand, but his smile turned softer, his eyes the only thing that betrayed how old he was, how tired. "But yes. Soon enough, everything will be ready and I'll move on."

Christine moved her hand to squeeze Clow's, softly, trying to convey that although she was happy for him, for the opportunity of him to move on, she was going to miss him terribly. It had been such a comfort to know that there was someone else that understood her, someone who knew how painful it was to see everyone die. He had been there, for one of her previous lives as she had died then.

To think that even this had to end made her feel so, so tired, and so, so very sad.

"No, my dear, don't be upset," Clow asked of her, and he was speaking English now. He offered her his handkerchief and smiled. "This doesn't mean we won't see each other again. I promise."

Christine smiled. "I'll be holding you unto that promise, Clow."

Clow smiled and stood up, picking up a few bags around him.

"Dear, if you excuse me now, I'm afraid I'm terribly late for another date. Would you be a dear and pay this time? I'll repay you next time we see each other."

Before she could tell him that, knowing Clow's sweet tooth, she didn't have enough monety to pay, Clow had disappeared. Christine sighed, wishing not for the first time that she had Clow's insight.

When she stood up and went to pay, knowing that she was going to use every last cent she had, she was surprised when a young man smiled at her, black hair in dreadlocks, and then asked for both of their bills.

"I... thank you, sir," she smiled, too. It was hard not to do so before such a cheerful face.

The young man grinned and winked at her. "Ahh, just Jose, please."

"Murata, are you sure the store is around here?" Yuuri sighed, shoulders hunched. "We've been going around and around forever."

"Really, Shibuya, it's been barely two hours, what happened to your stamina?" Murata grinned but looked at the map he had, frowning a little. "I'm sure it's around here..."

"The Twin Bells is on the next street," someone said, voice soft and calm and with just a hint of an accent. Murata blinked and quickly looked around, eyes falling on the calm face of a pale boy wearing glasses and a school uniform.

"Uh? Hey, thanks!" Yuuri said with a grin before he blinked, tilting his head. "Hey, wait, how did you know we were going there?"

The boy opened his eyes then, dark blue eyes amused despite the fact that his smile hadn't changed from just polite and charming. It was Murata who grinned, almost feeling like laughing, before he clapped a hand over Yuuri's back.

"A lucky guess, I'm sure! Now Shibuya, go and see if you find something for mama and your fiancé, I'll go in a few."

"Huh? Where are you going?"

Murata shrugged and started walking next to the boy, waving Yuuri's concerns away.

"Maa, maa, don't worry, Shibuya! He just owes me some tea, right?"

The kid gave a soft nod, his smile pleasant and charming. He also seemed to be trying not to laugh.

"Of course, Ken-san. And a bit of a chat, I think."


End file.
